In one of the more dramatic finishes of the BCS era, Kelvin Benjamin’s 2-yard touchdown grab against Auburn gave Florida State its first national championship in 14 years. After what some consider a lost decade, Florida State’s rise back to the top of college football was a long, arduous journey. The Seminoles endured three six-loss seasons, an academic cheating scandal and the forcing out of a legend that built the program.
In what will be a 10-part series, we take a look back on events that led to Florida State’s resurgence back to the top of the college football world. After finishing in the top 5 every year from 1987 until 2000, the Seminoles went 13 years without winning a major bowl game. The countdown’s order is mostly chronological rather than in terms of importance. While Florida State was down for an extended period of time, the Seminoles often managed to rise to the occasion for the big game. In the process, Florida State kept from falling into obscurity.
The span from 2001-2009 for Florida State football fans is sometimes referred to as the “lost decade”. While Florida State finished 7-6 three times during the stretch and won the ACC just three times, to say that there were no monumental moments or victories would simply be untrue. In fact, Florida State’s ability to rise to the occasion perhaps kept the lost decade from being a far bigger disaster than it actually was.
During that 9-year stretch that Florida State fans hardly look back on with fondness, the Seminoles managed to win three ACC titles and defeat 11 ranked opponents including four in the top 10. Though Florida State had become just a shell of its former self, the Seminoles remained a team that couldn’t be taken lightly.
The 2004 season got off to a shaky start as Florida State opened the year with a 16-10 overtime loss to Miami, but mid-October brought hope that a return to national prominence was imminent. Against sixth-ranked Virginia at home, the Seminoles put forward an old school FSU effort, downing the Cavaliers 36-3. The Seminoles however, would fall later in the season to Maryland and Florida to finish 9-3.
2005 saw Florida State get off to a 5-0 start, move into the top 5 and defeat Miami for the first time in six tries. The regular season however, ended with three straight losses. At 7-4 and with a great season seemingly slipping away, Florida State faced Virginia Tech in the inaugural ACC Championship. The Hokies were 10-1 and ranked fifth in the nation, but on that Jacksonville night, Florida State scored 24 unanswered second half points before holding off Virginia Tech 27-22.
The 2005 season concluded with an Orange Bowl loss to third-ranked Penn State, but the heavy underdog Seminoles gave the Nittany Lions all they wanted before falling by a field goal in three overtimes. As close as Florida State was to pulling a second straight major upset, 2005 would be the last time that Florida State would win the ACC until 2012.
The 2006 and 2009 seasons each ended with 7-6 records for the Seminoles, but Florida State closed them with prominent bowl victories to avoid its first losing season since 1976. Florida State rallied to defeat UCLA 44-27 in the 2006 Emerald Bowl, to finish with a wining record. While the Bruins entered at just 6-6 themselves, they had ended USC’s national championship hopes in the regular season finale. The Seminoles trailed 27-23 after three quarters, but outscored UCLA 21-0 in the final period.
The 2009 season ended with Florida State rallying from a 14-3 deficit to defeat #25 West Virginia in the Gator Bowl in what would be the final game of Bobby Bowden’s legendary coaching career. Earlier that year however, the Seminoles went into Provo and knocked off a top 10 BYU team in resounding fashion. A 54-28 win over the Cougars gave Florida State a 2-1 record and hope for the remainder of the season, but FSU would drop its next three games before finishing 7-6 for the third time in four years.
The 2007 season also resulted in a 7-6 finish, but Florida State knocked off a pair of ranked teams that season. In a highly anticipated match-up in Jacksonville, Florida State outlasted Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide, 21-14.
At second-raked Boston College later in the year, the Seminoles intercepted the Eagles’ Heisman Trophy candidate Matt Ryan four times. Linebacker Geno Hayes’ 38-yard interception return for a score put the exclamation point on a 27-17 FSU victory and one of the Seminoles’ more memorable upsets ever.
While Florida State managed to win a number of big games during what seemed like the worst of times, the Seminoles also managed to hang with some of the nation’s best. In addition to the Seminoles’ heartbreaking loss to Penn State in the 2006 Orange Bowl, Florida State led top-ranked Miami 27-14 in the second half in 2002 before falling 28-27 on a missed field goal by Xavier Beitia as time expired. In 2006, Florida State was even with eventual national champion Florida in the fourth quarter before a late score gave the Gators a 21-14 victory.
Although the lost decade was a frustrating time for Florida State and its loyal fan base, the Seminoles managed to play with anyone in the country on a given night. In the process, FSU showed fans and recruits that it was never that far away from being nationally relevant once again.
During the “lost decade”, Florida State had nothing, but winning seasons. The Seminoles went 5-4 in bowls during that stretch, won the ACC three times and finished ranked on five occasions. Though Florida State was no longer playing for national championships, the ability to win the occasional big game kept the program afloat. Today, FSU is back atop college football’s mountain, but its return to the top may have taken much longer without its ability to rise to the occasion during down years.
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Reasons for Seminole Resurgence: #10 Hiring Jimbo Fisher
